Simple experiences can change your life and give you a new direction which you never thought before. People are motivated by many things in their lives. Some people are inspired by a scripture, a particular teaching, a guru, a book, a movie, a conversation they had with their friend, a relation or even a stranger, an incident they witnessed, a dream they had, a memory that surfaced in their consciousness or an experience they felt in meditation. You might have had those experiences yourself or heard about them from others. Knowing them one fact becomes certain. While you may not be able to explain it, you feel connected to some events and people. You are drawn to certain ideas and beliefs and when you see or meet someone you experience an inner elation that you cannot easily shake off.

Discern the silence hidden in the noise of life. You can awaken to the silence right now. All that you have to do is to sit quietly and discern the silence hidden behind all the noise that reaches your ears. We generally do not notice this silence. But to the discerning person this silence can be an ocean of peace. He can swim in that ocean and feel relaxed and energized whenever he wants. We are immersed in this oceans and hence, this silence of the universe never deserts us.

Liberation in a general sense means liberation from whatever that holds you back or keeps in check. There are many types of liberation. We speak here only two types of liberation, spiritual liberation and mental liberation. Mental liberation means freedom from the conditioning to which we are subject. It is liberation from the learning, beliefs, values, opinions, prejudices, judgments, worldviews, attitudes, standards, which we harbor in our minds because of our interaction with the external world.

The Rudra of the Rigveda is a militant god of storms and lightening and a "provider of medicines". Though he did not enjoy the same status as Indra, Rudra definitely enjoyed his own importance in the Vedic pantheon because of his tempestuous nature, his association with storms and storm gods called Maruts and his ability to bring medicines to the people to prolong their lives.This is a musical invocation to them. The music is composed digitally by Jayaram V

We generally think abundance in terms of having many luxuries and plenty of wealth. Abundance does not necessarily mean being rich or wealthy. It is one form of abundance only. Abundance applies to every aspect of life. It has both positive and negative aspects. Focus upon the positive types of abundance you have and make the best use of them.Make

In ideal situations, you should not take any criticism personally. At the best, a criticism is a message or a feedback about yourself or your actions. It is like a raw data coming from one of the instruments in the machinery of your life giving you vital information about some aspect of your life, actions or personality. Instead of accepting it as a piece of data, if you personalize it, you will lose objectivity and fail to make use of it effectively as an opportunity to improve yourself. We can use criticism to improve ourselves or depress ourselves. We have a choice here. We can perceive in it an opportunity for self-growth or a threat to lapse into self-pity and persecution complex. The best to deal with it is to accept it as a possible feedback and act upon it rationally and analytically. For that you have to recognize that your happiness comes not from the approval you gain from others but from being yourself and knowing yourself.

There are three selves in you and you are probably aware of them. First, there is the physical self consisting of your body and brain, or what you may call the physical mind. Next, there is the mental self, consisting of your mind, thoughts, perceptions, feelings, memory and subconscious. Then you have the observing self, different from both, which you may discern at times in your meditation. The best way to enter this state is by focusing your mind upon your breathing and slowly becoming mindful of what is happening in you and around you. Another approach is to practice the "Not This, Not This" method (neti neti) mentioned in the Upanishads and remind yourself that you are not your mind and body. If you persist in your practice, gradually the idea will take root in you and you will become detached, composed and collected in your daily life, relationships, thinking and actions. You will bridge the gap between the observer and the observed, and grasp the essence of things that is not perceptible to the ordinary senses.

Nowadays you can create little pieces of music by putting together a few voices and instruments on a time line and after a few trials and tests come out with a good beat. If you have a good feel for music, you can create your own compositions for fun or for use in your videos and websites. This one is an example. It does not speak much about my talent, but the possibilities you have nowadays in being creative. You may Listen to my podcasts on Srutam.com or at hinduwebsite.com http://www.hinduwebsite.com/audio/index.asp . Jayaram V